The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[DaveMuttley]

Hi Folks

Here's our experience of registering our Paj in France from start to finish.  Perhaps someone clever (Daisy?   ) could advise if I've made any mistakes.  I've tried to be quite thorough so this looks quite a long and laborious process but it's not really.  In fact, it's pretty easy... This is put together based on our own experience with our Paj (2.5 TD Exceed LWB) I guess others' experiences may differ...

Pajero Registration Requirements

Start by creating an information pack about your Paj and you containing the following documents and make several copies of it.  To be on the safe side, this should contain...

"THE PACK"
UK V5C/Log book
"Original" Invoice for your vehicle
Valid Insurance Certificate
Valid Driving Licence
Proof of Residence in France (Phone bill for landline or Electricity bill)
Valid Passport

Step 1:  The Controle Technique (French equivalent of the MOT).  Not a difficult thing to get.  
Make an appointment with your nearest CT centre and rock up at the alotted time with "The Pack" in hand.  It's not too painful but your lights do have to point the right way for a LHD vehicle.  (Stick on headlamp converters won't do).  We bought ours off e-Bay in Germany for €95.  The CT's much the same as for a UK MOT test, just make sure the lights point to the other side and you should be OK.  Add the CT certificate to "The Pack"

Step 2:  The Quittus Fiscale.  Visit your local tax office and get a Quittus Fiscale.  You can just walk in for this, there shouldn't be any need to make an appointment.  The Quittus Fiscale is a certificate showing that you don't owe any tax on your vehicle.  You'll need to produce an invoice for when you bought the vehicle.  For a lot of folks who don't have much history on theirs, this really is "an invoice" rather than "the invoice" if you know what I mean.  The tax people might only give it a cursory glance but they won't issue the certificate without seeing something.  They'll also take copies of all the other docs in the "Pack" which will go in a file and, according the guy at our tax office, "won't ever be looked at again".  Add the Quittus Fiscale to the "Pack".

Step 3:  The Certificate of Conformity.  This is NOT difficult to get.  
For a vehicle that was imported to the UK from Japan and that you now wish to register in France, you will receive a Certificate of Partial Conformity from Mitsubishi.  The DRIRE (local vehicle inspectorate) will then check the parts of the vehicle that aren't covered by the Partial Certificate and , once they're happy that the vehicle's OK, will issue the Carte Gris.  So, to acquire the Certificat de Conformite Partiel...

1.  Contact Mitsubishi on 08.10.81.08.71 and tell them you need a Cert of Conformity.  If phone calls are scary, you can write to them at

Mitsubishi Motors France
Service Homologation
BP 10051 ONSY
95521 CERGY PONTOISE CEDEX

2.  They will send you a form to fill in (they'll e-mail it if you give them your address).  The form they sent us is attached to this post.
3.  Send the form back with a cheque for €209.30   which they seem to send back to you   , presumably because they can't issue a full Cert of Conformity.)
4.  You will then receive a Cert of Partial Conformity
5.  There will be a part of the C of PC that outlines parts of the vehicle that they can't confirm are OK such as, in our case, seat belts, windows, lights, glass.  If you're happy that your own vehicle will pass an inspection go to point 6.
6.  Add the Cert of Partial Conformity to "The Pack" and head off to the Prefecture with the paperwork.   (We were lucky and our Mairie did all the contact with the Prefecture by post)

Up to this point, as far as everyone's concerned you're importing a standard vehicle.  So, you will have given a cheque to the Prefecture for the cost of importing the car.  Thing is, you're not importing a standard car and you won't get a Carte Gris on the basis of the Certificate of Partial Conformity. The DRIRE will need to check over the car to get the full document.  Therefore, the DRIRE will be notified by the Prefecture and they will then send you a letter telling you when and where to turn up to have the vehicle inspected.  This inspection costs around €65 (our Paj failed fist go so we had to go back for a second test but we only paid once).  

To get through the DRIRE Inspection for the Carte Gris (French Equivalent of a V5C/Log book)...

Step 4: The DRIRE.  This isn't as bad as it sounds.  You need to take with you "The Pack" and an expandable, self addressed, A4 envelope with about €6.00 of stamps on it (all will be explained later!) and a cheque book to pay the €65ish for the pleasure of having the vehicle inspected.

The DRIRE need to be satisfied that the vehicle is the one you claim (by checking chassis numbers) and that it ticks all the boxes on their European Conformity lists.  It's quite a long list but if your vehicle has been imported into the UK already you should have most of them ticked already.  As mentioned above, there will be things on the Partial Cert of Conformity that Mitsu can't confirm.  For us this was lights, window glass and seat belts... You can check this stuff easily.  

Glass.  All glass on the car (including sunroof) needs to display an 'E' in a circle.  If it doesn't, worst case scenario is that they can make you change the glass.  (Some of our windows had really faint 'E's and we really had to look hard for them - the guy was happy with that)
Seatbelts.  The seatbelt anchors also need to display the same "E" in a circle too, if not, you can be made to change them (we had none on our seatbelts but the bloke let us off luckily as I didn't fancy replacing all seven).  Some people have successfully got the DRIRE to contact Mitsubishi about this who have confirmed that the're OK and it's been accepted.  

Lights.  Headlights have to point in the right direction (even though by now they've seen a new CT certificate!) and, for us, all lights were tested.  Our inspector was just as interested to see that the lights on the dashboard worked when the corresponding lights were on.

Fog Light.  We had to move ours over to the left and demonstrate not only that it worked but that there was a light on the dash telling us that it was on.  As per front fogs, we should really have removed them prior to the test as they didn't have the "E" symbol and someone told us they were too powerful.  We just told him they were "Un peu Du Bling" and didn't work and he accepted that (!)
Plaque outlining weights and measures.  This was the only real pain to do.  The info was hard to find and Mitsu didn't help at all.  Thank God for POCUK!  It has to contain the chassis number and all the weights and measures that you entered on the form and sent back to Mitsu and be rivietted (not screwed) to the body of the vehicle.  We got one weight wrong so it failed.  We made up another plaque using the exact numbers the DRIRE inspector gave us and he technically failed it again because HE had made a mistake but let us off provided we change it later.  With his numbers, we could fail the next CT.  (Amazingly, the official Mitsubishi plaque wasn't considered EU spec but the one we cobbled together was fine! )

Tyres.  Check your tyres as they need to be EU spec and the treads need to be identical on each axle.

Another important point which isn't difficult for any Paj driver is to remain smiley, polite and calm at the DRIRE!  

Once you've got away from the DRIRE with a successful test they'll send back the Stamped Addressed Envelope (ours arrived next day!).  This contains documents for the prefecture and a secret envelope which says "Don't Open" on it.  I have no idea what this contains (DRIRE Party Photos maybe?) you'll need to take/send it back to the prefecture who'll send you the Carte Gris in the post which you'll need to sign for!

When you've got the Carte Gris, take it to a local cordonnerie (key cutter) and get your new fancy registration plates made up.  Then sit back and have a beer because you deserve it!


I think that's about everything.  Let me know if there are any gaping errors/omissions.  If you want to know anything else, feel free to contact me.  

From our experience it IS worth doing and, while a relatively lengthy process, it's not difficult and at the end of it you have your beloved Paj all fitted neatly into the system.  

Anyway, hope this helps others.

Cheers

Joe

[Google]

[Antioch]

Wow....

Speaking of France.. when my parents lived in England my dad could never pass the British driving test.. he'd use France by taking a hovercraft over.. getting his passport stamped.. and then sailing or flying back to the UK.. and Voila, his Texas Licence was good for another year in the UK.  Anyway.. not anything to do with your very documented process of a French vehicle registration... but it came to mind. Now I'm going outside to see if there are E's in circles.. I don't even know what that would be for.. I did have a 4x4 once from when Renault owned AMC.. all the parts on the body and some of the mechanical stuff was made over there... including the glass.

Robin

[Daisy]

Very good and helpful Joe  

Any objection if I cut and paste it, with credit and thanks to you of course , into my first post in the 'stickys' about French registration? There's one or two things that differ with what happened over here - our Drire test was more   ... and you also haven't put price paid to the prefecture. It'll save having yet another sticky, and I can also update it if needed.  

[DaveMuttley]

Hi Daisy

Feel free to cut and paste it.  Glad it's useful.

Yeah, DRIRE tests seem to differ depending on anything from whether the tester got enough sleep the night before.  

Going by the cheque book stubs, it looks like I paid €67.38 for the DRIRE test (even though we had two tests as we failed the first we only paid for one) and a further €176.50 to the prefecture for registration - ours is a 2.5TD so fewer CVs than a 2.8 hence a lower reg fee!  So, a grand total of €243.88 which is really reasonable as the DRIRE cost is the only additional cost above registering a "normal" EU spec car.   And, of course, Mitsu sent back the €209.30 for the Certificate of Conformite which is much appreciated!     I'm still really chuffed that we did it and think it was well worth it.

All the best

Joe

[tigernige1]

Can anyone help?  We are currently registering our Pajero Exceed 2.8lwb td in France (1st reg 1993), but in the Auvergne they seem to do it slightly different (the usual way in France I suppose - nothing consistent!)

Our Prefecture doesn't communicate with the DRIRE.   Luckily after reading all the registering posts on this forum we were well clued up before we started our process!  We were waiting patiently for our prefecture to write back to us with an appointment for our inspection at the DRIRE but all we got was a letter after sending all info required for our dossier, a scribbled  note saying that it was imperative we had a full european certificate of conformity and nothing else.  No telling us we would need to go to the DRIRE and fill in more forms - absolutely nothing.  So luckily armed with our knowledge we realised we must make a visit direct to the DRIRE to complete more forms to get us into their system for an inspection date.  They said it would likely to be about 3 weeks!  In the meantime we are fending off our insurance company who are asking why is it taking so long (they're french as well would you believe?)!

Anyway, we are now stumped about the WEIGHTS PLATE.  We have looked at the paperwork from Mitsubishi Paris and also the nice picture Daisy has taken of the plaque she did.  Our query is, our dutch neighbours are now going through the same process (they bought one recently exactly the same as ours) but they had the advantage of knowing someone who was going to do all they're paperwork and liaising for them (he knows the bosses very well at the prefecture and the DRIRE).  They have just received their letting confirming their inspection date (very quickly I may add - we're still waiting!) and the DRIRE also attached a piece of paper outlining exactly what must be on the plaque, which must measure 10cm x 8cm and strangely there are two figures which don't tally on it (below) but it appears to be 2 digits which we have as 6's and the DRIRE has as 4's - could this really be an error on their part? Also they stipulate that the chassis/engine should NOT be on the plaque it is the model identification number.

This is what they say should be on the plaque which measures 10cm x 8cm:

MITSUBISHI Motors
TYPE:  V46WGRPF1
NO:     V464001714

PTAC:  2720
PTRA: 4020

E1:  1145 kg
E2:  1455 kg

Everyone else seems to have PTRA 6020  and the E2 as 1655kg!

Hope someone can help?!


Nige

[Daisy]

HI  

I dunno, sounds like they may either have it confused with a swb or a 2.5 - the weights were taken by me from the very tiny print and appallingly badly photcopied piece of paper Mitsubishi sent along with the partial confomity. I had to use a magnifying glass to read it - even took photos of the piece of paper and had to blow them up on the computer. It wasn't at all clear.. I'll see if I can find it and find out what they may have wrong . If not, I suggest that you make up the weights plate as they suggest .. but it'll limit your towing capability. I'm gardening at the moment, but I'll have a look later on. You could always email your local DRIRE if they are dragging their heels. They were quite approachable in Bordeaux. We're doing the box trailer at the moment - I guess they'll know us soon !

Cheers Anne

[tigernige1]

Hi Daisy

Thank you for that.  I had a feeling that it could be wrong on the DRIRE part.  We can see from our paperwork from Mitsubishi that the weights should be 6020 and 1655 (but sometimes you never know!)

Our neighbours have their inspection this Wednesday so it will be interesting to see how they get on.  But first I will let them know what I suspect, maybe their good friend with the DRIRE can double check. (We haven't officially been notified ourselves of our date yet so we might not even get the piece of paper with the details of the plaque on it - the neigbours was only in handwriting!)

I'll update when I find out anything one way or the other.

[Daisy]

Just went looking for your local DRIRE's email address - and this may explain the delay .. seems they've had a DRIREy department re-shuffle !

Depuis le 4 janvier 2010, la DREAL (Direction Régionale de l’Environnement, de l’Aménagement et du Logement), est le nouveau service unifié du ministère de l’Ecologie, de l’Energie, du Développement durable et de la Mer, en charge des Technologies vertes et des Négociations sur le climat. Elle remplace la DIREN (Direction Régionale de l’Environnement), la DRE (Direction Régionale de l’Equipement) et la DRIRE (Direction Régionale de l’Industrie, de la Recherche et de l’Environnement) dont elle reprend les missions, hormis le développement industriel et la métrologie légale qui restent provisoirement sur le présent site.

Retrouvez les informations sur le nouveau site de la DREAL Auvergne :
www.auvergne.developpement-durable.gouv.fr

I clicked on the link but couldn't find anything about emailing them... they don't make it easy

[Daisy]

On further investigation - send your question to here: DREAL-Auvergne@developpement-durable.gouv.fr

[tigernige1]

Thank you very much for that Daisy - that probably will explain the delay!

We need to go to Clermont anyway so we are going to drop into the DRIRE and ask while we are in the vicinity.  I'm sure there is an error.  Our attestation de conformitie is quite clear from Mitsubishi (our neighbours says theirs wasn't very clear at all, in fact it is very blurred which may explain the error by the DRIRE.

We'll keep you updated and wonder how much longer our inspection will be.....?

Thanks again

[tigernige1]

By the way - you are from Lincolnshire (sometimes) - which part? As we are also ex Lincolnshire!

[Daisy]

Hi

I lived in Lincolnshire, Frampton West near Boston, where I had a boarding kennels ( Redvers) from 78 to 83 then I moved to Yorkshire, ( husband was at Finningley), then back in 1995 when Finningley closed, living in Hubberts Bridge just outside Boston.

I hope you get sorted with the Paj !! Keep smiling    

[tigernige1]

Hi

I used to live in Westwoodside (near finningley) but I moved with my wife to a village called Burringham between Scunthorpe and Gainsborough in Lincolnshire!

I checked with the DRIRE yesterday and the weights are correct with what it should be - they made an error on the piece of paper they sent the neigbour, so at least the neighbour could make sure their plaque was correct for their visit the following day (today)

Then followed the comedy of errors!

I asked if I could go with the neighbour for their DRIRE inspection so maybe I could learn something ready for when we got our inspection date and fortunately I did.

Firstly the inspector was checking their chassis number on the original plaque of the vehicle against the dossier and conformity partielle from Mitsubishi and he said that it wasnt' right.  I looked over his shoulder at the paperwork and said, hang on a minute that dossier is for my car!  Everyone was looking confused, I said look at the conformity partielle it has the chassis number of my car and showed them the V5 with their chassis number on it which should have corrensponded with the conformity partielle.  They had sent the neighbours an inspection date for our car.  But they didn't know where the dossier was for the neighbours car.  All in all we worked out that Mitsubishi Paris had made the error in the first place and sent them the conformity partielle for our car and then everyone else in the paperchain had just followed on from that, not knowing where to check on the V5 for the corresponding number, nobody had checked they matched, not even the neighbour.

The inspector was actually very good, he continued their inspection for them.  He then said that the plaque with the weights on should have had the chassis number on, whereas his boss at the DRIRE had said this shouldn't be the case, because if it is not a full european chassis number it shouldn't be on the plaque, just the type numbers.
He also couldn't find the number behind the rear wheel - even after trying with some sandpaper.  The indicators didn't have the E number, but he passed them anyway and he didn't check the sunroof or the seatbelts either.  So he just said they need to sort out the Conformity partielle again from Mitsubishi and try and find the number on the chassis near the rear wheel and re-attend the DRIRE main office to confirm these when they could.  

When we left the DRIRE inspector I made sure he knew that our dossier needed to go back into the system for an inspection date for us.  It was all very confusing, but the neighbour was very happy that I'd recognised the dossier to be the numbers for our car, because no one else would have noticed and then it would have compromised both cars and would have been even more confusing that it already was!!

I also found out after getting back my original documents from the Prefecture that they had kept, that the Controle Technique must be 2 months old or less, any more and it is invalid to continue the process for the carte grise.  Ours was done a while ago, so we at least know we need to get it done again before our appointment.  Anyway we are now sorting out another Controle Technique and also in the morning armed with sandpaper are checking again our car for the "hidden" chassis number (we couldn't find ours before either)

So nearly there, but I'm glad I went today and look forward to our inspection hopefully forewarned and forearmed - especially if they turn up with the dossier for our neighbours!

I'll update on our next escapade, hopefully it will be straight forward from here.  (Meanwhile the neighbours have to wait another few weeks for another conformity partielle from Paris and maybe by then their Controle Technique will have expired as well!)

[Daisy]

Wow, that sounded like a close shave     I can imagine the administrative mess that would have been if you hadn't have noticed !!!!!

Frappe a froid: here's my pic of where my chassis number was/ is . It took much wire brushing to find it, and I also had to photoshop the photo I took to send the pic so the DRIRE knew it was the right number. Location, driver's side rear wheel arch. Best of luck!

[DaveMuttley]

Hi Tigernige1

I'm coming to this a bit late.  Sounds like you're experiencing the Comedy of Errors that is the DRIRE test.  The plaque was the biggest issue we had and, on the second visit, the inspector told us he'd got his numbers wrong and we'd therefore stamped up the wrong plate.

The Frappe Froide number (at about 10 o'clock above the driver's side rear wheel on a RHD) is really important and could do with a brush/sand and a spray.  Our inspector was v happy we'd cleaned it out.

One point you raise is that the CT has to be 2 months old or less.  Is this a new official directive?  Our experience was that it had to be less than 6 months old which was useful as the process took over 3 months.  I wouldn't have been able to stay calm and polite if we'd had to do a 3rd 240km round trip to DRIRE because the CT had expired while we waited.

Anyway, sounds like you're nearly there.  Congrats!

All the best

Joe